Everyone looked into the building and towards the remaining two Lurkers. Both had gathered into the corner of the room and were tussling with each other, trying to push the other one away to be Exterminated first.

"See, Janus? They don't even care about other Lurkers! There's no reason for you to hold back on them. Just do what you did to that other one. A straight jab to the right spot should be enough to take it out for good!"

"Got it." Janus took a deep breath and ventured forth. There was confidence in his stride as he kept his fists wadded together. One of the Lurkers managed to secure the corner all to itself, leaving the other to face Janus alone. It raised one hand up, and once Janus got close enough, lowered its talon-like appendages for a slash. Janus swiftly raised one arm up, blocking the swipe with his forearm. He could feel the creature's bones through its soft flesh as the arm collided with his. He staggered back a bit, but the strike wasn't anywhere near as painful as what he expected. With one of the Lurker's arms out of the way, Janus jabbed the creature in the face; his punch grazed its soft chin. The attack was enough to hurt the creature, evident by the way its entire buckled from the impact, but it still managed to stand on its two legs.

"Again!" Gurk shouted.

"Yeah, again!" Ven shouted right after.

Janus focused on the staggered Lurker. He put his left hand out in front of him and then pulled his right hand back for another. Without any hesitation, Janus tossed another jab at the creature, this time towards its chest. His hand punctured the soft flesh of the creature like a rotten pumpkin, sending dark chunks spilling onto the ground. The Lurker became limp on impact, collapsing on its back in a heap. Janus then took his hand back, looking at it with disgust as he shook off the gunk that coated his skin and newly attached implant. "Yuck."

"Your form isn't too bad!" Itzel called out. "The punch itself was a bit slow, but you had the correct stance and the motion was executed just right!" She gave him a smile while pointing to the remaining Lurker in the corner. It put its long, stringy arms over its face as it cowered in the corner by itself. "See? It’s scared of you! That means it knows you're a threat."

"Me? A threat?" Janus pointed to himself as he mouthed out the words. Itzel and Gurk both nodded. He then looked down at the trembling creature. A peculiar blend of satisfaction and sorrow overcame him. The way the Lurker curled itself into a defensive position made him feel guilty. He then looked at the remains of its fellow Essencima that were strewn about the area. For a moment he unclenched his fist, almost wanting to help the Lurker to its feet and tell it that he didn't want to do it harm. He reached towards it as if he were going to offer to protect it until a voice shouted at him from behind.

"Janus! It is not a wounded animal!" Itzel exclaimed. "Remember how they pounced on you back at the Refinery Sector? And how they were trying to tear poor little Ven apart yesterday?"

"I coulda stopped 'em!" the child protested.

"Shush kid," Itzel said to Ven. "Don't forget that thing was more than willing to let that other Lurker get Exterminated first. Do not. I repeat, do not feel bad for Essencima. They're nothing but a menace."

Janus nodded slowly. "Alright. You're the Exterminator. You know what you're talking about. Doesn't matter how wide-eyed and scared these creatures are." He then hovered over the final Lurker; his shadow cast over it as he cracked the knuckles of his right hand. From behind the arms that covered its face, Janus could see one of the Lurker's timid yellow eyes look up at him. At the end of the day, they're nothing but monsters, he thought to himself.

He raised his fist high above his head, slamming down on the arm that the Lurker used to protect its face. Janus felt the creature the crumple from the strike but could see that it was still breathing by the way its body moved. The impact had bent the limb inwards, making the Lurker wail in sorrow as it switched to its other arm to try to deflect any other potential blows. Janus raised his left hand, striking his foe once more with his fist. His face became expressionless as he watched the hapless enemy become smaller as he rained blow after blow. Each punch made a soft crunch, slowly liquifying the monster with each attack.

"Uh, Janus." Itzel said. He couldn't hear her over the sounds of the Lurker's limbs cracking.

"Janus." The onslaught continued.

"Janus!" Itzel shouted. He stopped mid punch to turn around. She stood over him, staring at the mangled corpse of the final Lurker. "I think you killed it, Janus," she said softly.

"Oh... right." Janus stood up and took a few steps away from what remained of the Lurker. He winced when he saw how the arms were bent in ways that were never intended and at the pool of black gunk that slowly became bigger from one of the gaping wounds. He then looked down to gaze at his jacket; his hands were coated in Essencima innards. The cuffs of his jacket were dyed black from the gore. "I-I think I got carried away."

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"You think?" Itzel reached down and lifted the Lurker's hand and watched it snap off from the slightest of bit of pressure.

"I'm sorry," he sorrowfully replied.

"Don't be. Like I said, Essencima are nothing but menaces." Itzel tossed the severed hand onto the rest of creature's remains. "Think an Ogre has any sense of mercy? All these things exist for is to cause pain and destruction. Trust me, I've done the same to these things every now and then when I'm having a bad day."

"That's a relief," Janus said after taking a deep breath. "Thought I went a bit—" A buzzing from his Implant cut his sentence short. Itzel heard it too and looked towards his hand.

"What was that?"

"Sounds like you got a notification. Check it out."

"How do I do that?"

"Just bring it up like you did last time. You'll see a small red dot up in the corner."

Janus brought up his projection and touched the red dot that Itzel had mentioned. On the next screen, he could see that there was a notification from Rumble Circuit. Itzel looked over his shoulder to see what exactly the notice was about.

"Hey, looks like you have a Natural Affinity after all!" Itzel said. She gave Janus a pat on the shoulder. Even though he was confused, he still mustered a smile.

"Oh... thank you! I'm guessing that's a good thing?"

"Yes. You don't know what it means to have an affinity, do you?"

"I do, but not in this context. I think it means something different hear than it does in Oregon."

"You know how my Techniques are all air related and Gurk can fight with ice? That's because of our Affinities. Not too many people have them. I'd say about one in seven. Give or take."

"Really? You're saying I have something like a superpower?"

Itzel nodded. "Yep. I can tell by the way your Fighter Profile is marked. Kind of weird that you only just now found out that you have one, but then again you aren't all that normal. People typically discover what their Affinity is once they get around ten or so."

"How do I find out what mine is?" Janus asked with impatience.

"Usually people find out just by doing normal things. One minute you're walking home and the next thing you know, you can make fireballs with your hands. I can't really describe it. It's the kind of thing that you have to discover for yourself. But your Fighter Profile for Rumble Circuit should list it for you."

Janus tapped the notification which brought up his Fighter Profile. On the screen he could see his name, a picture of himself as well as a mostly-empty table. Underneath his portrait he saw various numbers and terms, as well as his ranking of 'UNRANKED.' After scrolling down, he saw what his Affinity was.

"Plasma!?" Janus said with excitement. Itzel looked over to verify if what he said was correct.

"Plasma? Interesting. Don't think I've ever seen anyone with that before. Must be one of those ultra-rare affinities you don't see too often."

"Does this mean I can shoot bolts of plasma out of my hands?" Janus began flinging imaginary projectiles across the room. Gurk entered with Ven sitting on his shoulders, both following the trajectory of the invisible attacks with their eyes.

"Depends on the Technique. Take a look at your Command List."

"Okay. I see that option right here..." Janus tapped it. The table enlarged, showing off a slew of empty boxes save for one row under the section of Special Techniques. "Ion Tail... Does that Technique sound familiar to any of you?" he asked the other three.

"Techniques are unique to you. Everybody gets them with experience. The more you fight, train and practice, the more you'll learn. So I have no idea what your Ion Tail does or how to perform it. But using a Technique is just like bringing up your Implant's projection. You just... do it."

"Yeah. Do it," Gurk said excitedly.

"I wanna see it," Ven said afterwards.

"Yeah Janus. Just give it a try. I can see why it would be intimidating for someone who just got their Implant not even a day ago, but trust me when I say this stuff will come naturally in time. If you want to do Ion Tail, all you need to do is focus on doing it. It is your Technique. That means you should be able to do it, no problem." Itzel placed a hand a Gurk, implying that she wanted him to take a few steps back. "Make sure to give Janus plenty of room. We don't know what kind of attack it is. But since it's not a Signature Technique, it shouldn't be too dangerous if we're not that close." Itzel then looked at Janus, twirling her pointer finger in the air. "Oh, and maybe it'd be best if you face the other way. In case it's a projectile."

"Point taken." Janus looked towards the wall. One of the Lurker's bodies had almost completely disintegrated while the others were in the melting progress. However, he paid them no mind as he channeled all his mental energy into performing Ion Tail.

Just think about it and you'll do it. Just like accessing your Implant. I just... need... to focus..." Without any hesitation, Janus found himself kneeling with his right leg stretched out. Using his other leg, he propelled himself into the air, spinning his body frontwards as his right leg performed a roundhouse kick. The angle of the attack was steep; the length of his leg was just a few degrees away from being perpendicular with the floor. As he rose, a large purple cloud engulfed his leg, creating a comet-like trail as he soared upwards. At the peak of his jump, his body straightened itself in the air, allowing him to land on the ground with both feet.

Janus wobbled a bit upon landing on the ground. He stretched out his hands to make sure he didn't fall over. The other three came to his side, with Gurk patting him on the back, almost sending him toppling forward onto the ground.

"Nice!" Gurk said.

"Really?" Janus asked. "Did I do it right?"

"The landing was a bit sloppy," Itzel said with a wink. "But the Technique itself was spot on. Just need to work on making sure you stay focused after the Technique ends."

"That felt incredible!" Janus exclaimed. He bent his knee as he lifted his leg upwards, performing a sideways kick in the air. "It's been a childhood fantasy of mine to be a superhero. Never in a million years would I have ever thought I'd get my own superpower!" He smiled with glee, panting from how much his heart was racing out of excitement.

"Don't know about the superhero part, but you've definitely got an Affinity. There's no denying that."

Janus looked down at his legs. His foot felt the same despite having been covered in an Ion-like cloud. "I kind of want to do it again."

"Go for it!" Itzel said.